Lampang wrote:Mass murder is surely as American as apple pie so why does his action become some cipher for Islam, rather than a straight-forward instance of problem-solving in a pathologically violent society?

From a CNN report. There is also more detailed information about his belief that the war is a war on his religion.

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Dr. Val Finnell, a former medical school classmate of Hasan's, described him as "a very outspoken opponent of the war" in the classroom and in public settings.

"He equated the war against terror with a war against Islam," Finnell said. He added that he was shocked by Thursday's shooting. "However, that said, given the things that Maj. Hasan has said to me in the past and to other people, I am not surprised."

This would be entirely consistant with the Islamic concept of the Din. which is the exact equivilent of the now reduntant concept of "Christendom" a community of believers that goes beyong national borders and national identities. An attack on any part of the Din is seen by many an attack on all of it. Given the huge dissonance which must have been felt by a Muslim serving in the US armed forces and preparing to be sent to a war on the Din, as he would see it, there is a sense of inevitability about this event, it is frankly slightly surprising that similar incidents have not occured before among Muslim members of the US armed forces. Nothing can justify Dr Hasans actions, but they did not occur in a vacuum. It would appear that the west is still extraordinarily ignorant about various aspects the dynamic within Islam. And that the need to win hearts and minds seems to be forgotten. Instead a new presidency has seen the continued attempt to impose western values by military means.